Improvement in dental plates



UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DENTAL PLATES.v

l Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,538, dated August 11, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. A. MGCLELLAND, of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Dental Plates; andIdo hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a top view of a plate constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of an upper set of teeth applied to such plate.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

The subject of my said invention is a metallic dental plate so constructed and arranged that vulcanized india-rubber may be used in connection with it, thus combining the perfect adaptability of the rubber to the mouth with the strength of metal. This may be effected by using a closely-woven or perforated web or plate of gold or other metal, through which the rubber may connect from side to side, rendering the plate air-tight.

In order that others skilled in the art to which myinvention a-ppertains may be enabled to fully understand and use the same, I will proceed to describe more fully the preferred mode of carrying it into effect.

The drawings represent the skeleton a as being composed of a web of platinum, gold, or other metal wire interwoven after the manner of wire-ganze but, instead of this web, I propose to use as anequivalent in some cases a thin plate of suitable metal, closely and finely perforated.

To manufacture my improved plate, after having cut or otherwise wrought the web or perforated plate which forms the skeleton to a ,suitable shape for the denture, I t it as closely as possible to the plaster model of the mouth and then apply theindia-rubber b upon it, and afterward proceed with the work in the manner commonly practiced with a plate of india-rubber alone, and in so doing a suffithrough the reticulations or perforations of the metallic web or skeleton plate to make a perfect adaptation to the plaster model and present a smooth surface to come in contact with the mouth.

I am aware that it has been proposed to insert or mold metallic strips or wires in porcelain to be used as a base for artificial teeth. This I do not claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The employment or use of a metallic dental plate, closely perforated or woven, so that india-rubber may penetrate and adhere to it, as described.

2. The combination, in a dental plate, of a skeleton or plate of woven or perforated metal with a base or flllin g of vulcanized india-rub ber, in order to unite the perfect adaptability of rubber to the mouth with the strength of metal, substantially as explained.

J. A. MCGLELLAND. Witnesses:

H. PEEIssLER, Y J os. CLEMENT.

cient quantity ofthe india-rubber will be forced n 

